


Rich Lives Start with Singing in the Shower

by exilefromlife



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Pining, SO MUCH FLUFF, Shower Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-05-02
Packaged: 2018-03-26 18:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3859912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exilefromlife/pseuds/exilefromlife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve takes a shower when he gets frustrated with painting, which leads to loud, slightly off-key singing. It's normal, until the guy taking a shower in the stall next to him also starts singing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rich Lives Start with Singing in the Shower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doctormccoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctormccoy/gifts).



> The was written for the [Sam/Steve Exchange 2015](http://samsteveexchange2015.tumblr.com/), for samtwilson (formerly buckybarnnes). I hope you like it!!
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://findyouranchorpoint.tumblr.com/)!

Steve found out early on in college that the one thing that annoyed him the most was dried paint on his knuckles at three in the morning. He had been working on his midterm still-life of his roommate’s bookshelf when the dried paint began to crack and itch enough that the blond had snarled at the paint palette and called it a night. His roommate had peeked over the edge of his bunk to grin at Steve.

 “Drying on you again?” Bucky, Steve’s friend since childhood, asked. He shut his math book and climbed down to take a look at the painting. “Okay, seriously, it looks done. What are you doing?”

 “Details, Buck. It’s supposed to be as realistic as possible, and I need it to be perfect! The final is a landscape, and you know how those go for me.” The blond glared accusingly at the canvas. “Screw it, I’m done. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

 “Good, because I’m sick of studying Calc 3 and I can’t sleep with a light on.” The brunet tossed the key to their shared bathroom locker at Steve and climbed back into bed as he yawned. “You’re lucky you’re my best friend, pal, or you would’ve been banned from painting in the room a long time ago.”             

Steve ducked his head apologetically and left the room as quickly as possible. Their dorm house was still bustling with students taking a break from studying, despite the ungodly hour, and one of his friends—and Bucky’s on again, off again boyfriend—tapped in the bathroom door code for him as he made a comment about cleaning paint off the number pad for the tenth time that week. He clapped Steve on the shoulder and shot him a grin before heading down the hall in the opposite direction of his room. The blond snorted. Looked like he and Bucky were back in the “on again” stage. Steve didn’t mind since it meant he would have an excuse for taking an excessively long shower.               

He washed his hands in the sinks near the door before going to the locker and taking out his shower stuff. At least Bucky wouldn’t be able to complain about paint on the locker door again. Steve grabbed the waterproofed iPod and shower stereos before locking the locker and heading into one of the private shower rooms. That was one of the many benefits of living in Wadsworth instead of the other three dorms: private shower rooms that were better than stalls with a curtain in front of them.              

By the time Steve had gotten the speakers and iPod set up and on his playlist (Bucky’s was full of hard rock and head-banging music), there was another shower running in the bathroom and he almost thought better of blasting his music. Then again, if he could put up with that dumbass Rumlow’s crappy taste in music being blared through the hall, anyone could put up with his. At least his taste in music didn’t objectify anyone. Still…             

“Hey! If you can hear me, I’m gonna be playing some loud music! Good by you?” Steve shouted.               

“Go for it, man!” The reply was muffled by the thick walls and Steve couldn’t recognize the voice.               

At least there were better people in his hall than Rumlow and his fellow rugby players. The blond smiled and pressed play. One of the most popular songs on the radio came on and there was a gleeful shout from the other side of the wall.               

“Fuck yeah!! I love this song!!”               

Steve heard the other guy singing along with the song with a decent tenor and pictured him using a shampoo bottle as a microphone and almost died holding in his laughter. He managed to regain enough control to turn on his shower and join him in singing to the song. He belted it out—probably off-key—and grinned as the other guy started to laugh.               

The impromptu semi-duet continued for ten more songs before Steve heard the other shower turn off. “Nice music taste! See you ‘round!” The other guy shouted. Steve was a little disappointed that the other guy wasn’t set on a really long shower, but he figured it was a small dorm house and the jam session would probably happen again.               

He wound up staying in the shower until Bucky came knocking on the door. 

+               

“No, seriously, _every_ night, Buck!” Steve said a day before Spring Break. His midterms had gone really well, and he managed to get the painting done and turned in that morning. He’d already gotten the A on the assignment, but critique would happen later. For now, the blond, Bucky, and Clint were chatting over a late lunch, all of them staying over the break. “He doesn’t live in our house, that’s for sure. I don’t even know what the guy looks like or really sounds like, because we’ve only spoken through the wall!” 

Clint grinned at the other blond. “You’ve got it _bad_ , Steve-O. Hate to burst your bubble, but he might be visiting his boyfriend…or girlfriend, if he’s coming over from…from…what’s it called?”              

“Nirvana.” Steve and Bucky said in unison. The house adjacent to their own was constantly changing their name, so they didn’t make fun of Clint this time. “Naw, the three girls over there are taken, and don’t say anything bad about them. They’re friends.”

The Physics major held his hands up in his defense. “I wouldn’t dare! Pepper’s the only RA who won’t write us up, remember? Even Rhodes isn’t that generous.”               

Their RA, James Rhodes, was in the Air Force ROTC program while studying Mechanical Engineering with his friend Tony Stark. Tony happened to be the school’s resident genius and Pepper’s long-term boyfriend. Steve nodded in the direction of the dining hall doors. “Speak of the devil, he just came in.” He waved and got Pepper’s wave in return. “I heard Tony and Rhodes are going out of the country for break. Should we take bets on which country they’ve chosen to wreak havoc in?”              

“Ten bucks on Italy. Rhodes is taking Roman History as an elective and hasn’t shut the hell up about Rome yet.” Bucky passed a ten dollar bill over. “Clint, you in?”               

Clint dug in his pants and pulled out a ten. “My bet’s on Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day is during break.”              

Steve wrote everything down and pulled out a ten of his own. “I’m going for Japan, and that Pep’s going with them. She’s been mentioning a fashion show over there for _months_ now, and you know how she’s got Tony wrapped around her little finger.”             

Bucky groans. “No fair, you’re taking that business class with her! Ugh, I need more coffee before losing money. You guys want refills?” He rolled his eyes at their enthusiastic replies and went to the drink station as Tony, Rhodes, and Pepper passed him.         

Clint leaned forward conspiratorially towards Tony. “Stevie here has a crush on the mystery shower singer!”             

Rhodes laughed as Pepper also leaned forward, looking to gain more information. “Tell me more! What shower signer?”               

“Clint, you big gossip.” Steve mumbled as he took another bite of his food. “Look, he’s another guy, and _no_ , I don’t know who, and he’s just been singing along to my music with me whenever we manage to shower at the same time. He knows all the words to my favorite songs, doesn’t mock me when “Shake it Off” comes on, okay? It’s a perfectly reasonable crush!” He glared at Clint. “Just because some of us are sleeping with my roommate doesn’t mean some of us don’t get to dream.”               

The redhead sat up straight and gave the blond a look of sympathy. “So you have no idea who he is? Have you ever seen him?”               

Steve shook his head miserably. “No.”               

The woman reached over and took his hand, but Tony spoke before she could. “You’ve got two RAs on your side, we’ll figure it out. Rhodey, we could make signs saying “out of order, see room 519 for info” and put them on the door, right?”               

Bucky chose that moment to sit back down and pass Steve and Clint their coffees. “I refuse to be woken up at 2 in the morning because of some bullshit sign. Sorry, pal, but I need my sleep.”               

Steve wasn’t offended by Bucky’s statement. His roommate needed more sleep than he usually got, and the blond was a little weirded out by the prospect of a bunch of guys coming to his door at odd hours. It also made him feel more than a little desperate. He shook his head. “I’ll just ask his name next time.”               

Rhodes nodded. “I’d be happier with that plan than Tony’s. Is that someone’s alarm going off?”               

“Shit! We have to go pack for our vacation. Japan, here we come!” Tony did a weird shimmy as he turned off his phone alarm.

Clint and Bucky groaned and handed Steve their bets. The blond winked at Pepper. “I’ll send you pictures of us _not_ destroying things. Be safe over there, okay?” 

+               

Spring Break was one of the best times to be stuck in the dorms. Their group of three didn’t have the money to go somewhere in state for break, let alone somewhere exotic like Japan. They’d been invited, but none of them wanted to go on Tony’s dime. They didn’t care for charity. Clint’s roommate Leo had the same problem, and was very protective of his domain, so Clint and Bucky had made a deal with Steve to give them a few hours each night for whatever they felt like.               

It wasn’t a problem until the third day of break, when Steve’s ID card stopped letting him into the Art building. The blond scowled at the card and the card reader and trudged back the short distance to his dorm room, praying he wasn’t about to walk in on his two best friends having sex. Fortunately for everyone, they were watching some action movie and were happy enough to let Steve work on his sketches while they made out on the futon.               

Unfortunately, Steve knew he was going to be expected to leave after the movie. About a minute after the credits started rolling, Bucky gave Steve a look that spoke volumes. Steve smiled and shook his head, silently telling his friend that he could leave and not be upset about it. How could he be? A little jealous of what they had, sure, but not enough to be a dick about it. Steve stood and stretched, catching Clint’s attention.               

“We’re gonna put in a drama next, wanna stick around?” Clint had to shift so he could watch Steve’s lips in order to hear him over the credit music.              

“The light in here sucks, so probably not. I’m gonna head to the kitchenette and get some decent light to draw by. Buck, I’m stealing the locker key, too. Be back in a few hours, guys!” The blond winked at Clint and gathered his supplies before leaving his best friends to it.               

He wound up heading the showers first, knowing he was too tense to draw for as long as he wanted to. When he punched in the key code, he heard someone closing a door behind him and call out.              

“Oh, hey, hold the door!” The dark-skinned man adjusted the towel over his shoulder and grinned as he took the door. “Thanks!”              

“No problem. Were you in Rhodes’ room?” Steve looked back at the door and answered his own question. “He’s in Tokyo by now, right?”              

“Yeah, but my roommate’s a little shit, so Rhodey gave me his keys and let me take over his room for break. We’re in ROTC together, so he knows I won’t screw with his stuff. I’m Sam Wilson, by the way.”               

“I’m Steve Rogers. Rhodes must like you better than Tony, then. He never lets Tony hang out in his room alone.” He laughed at Sam’s shudder and unlocked his locker, pulling out the speakers and iPod. “Uh, hey, I blast music in the shower, hope you don’t mind.”               

“No shit! _You’re_ the shower singer?!” Sam’s grin turned into a beaming smile.               

Steve blinked. “Yeeesss…? Wait a minute, you’re the guy who belts it out whenever Taylor Swift comes on?”               

Sam started laughing, leaning against the wall. “It’s a guilty pleasure, I can’t help it! I’ve been wondering who you were, since we’ve never met before. Shoulda asked Rhodey, I guess.”               

The blond couldn’t help but start laughing as well. “Considering I’ve been whining to him about you for weeks, yeah.” His eyes widened when he said that and he clapped his hand over his mouth. “I mean—I didn’t---that came out way creepier than it was in my head.”               

“Relax, man. I’m flattered.” He ducked his head. “I’ve actually been talking my best friend’s ears off, too. Thought Riley was going to choke me after the fifth time.”               

Steve took a moment to process that statement and swallowed his nervousness. _Out with it, Rogers!_ “Pepper reacted better…she’s been trying to get me a good guy since my freshman year.”              

“You’re into guys?”               

“I’m into good people. I just don’t care what’s between someone’s legs is all.”               

Sam held up his hands. “Not judging, man, just asking. I’m bi, so I really don’t care what gender you like.” Steve opened his mouth to reply, but Sam continued. “Don’t worry, I get it. Grew up in a very religious family, it took them a while to get used to the idea and I got good at being defensive.”               

“Sorry.” Steve blushed and dropped his gaze to the floor. Cool hands tipped his chin back up and Steve’s eyes locked onto Sam’s. Electricity flooded the blond’s body at the contact. His blush deepened and he swore he could feel his pupils dilate, if it was possible.              

“Don’t ever be sorry for self-preservation. We do what we gotta do to stay safe out there, right?” Sam dropped his hand and turned to go into the largest shower room. Steve wasn’t sure if it was a hint or not, since it was on the opposite side of their normal two rooms, but the blond watched the door close and ran his hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh.               

“What the hell are you doing, Rogers?” Steve muttered to himself. He wondered if Sam had felt the electricity through their contact, and growled at himself. “Fuck it.”               

The taller man glanced at the door when Steve came in, nodding. “You got the message, I see.”              

“Yeah, but…I don’t do hook-ups.”               

“Does it count as a hook-up if I ask you on a date?” Sam’s smile made Steve’s stomach to a weird flip. “I was thinking if you were okay with dating, we could maybe go to that nice Chinese place up on the hill?”               

Steve returned Sam’s smile. “Sounds good.”               

“Cool. There. Officially not a hook-up, right?” Sam closed the distance between them and ghosted his hands over Steve’s arms.               

“Right.” The blond’s blush deepened. “I can’t believe this is happening…I only know you from your singing.”               

“We both have impeccable music tastes, good enough for now.” He watched Steve’s hands come up to touch his arms and his smile softened. “We don’t have to do anything, you know.”              

Steve snorted. “I’ve been watching my best friend and his smoking hot boyfriend make out for an hour and a half. I’m _dyin_ ’ here, Sam.”               

“Oh thank God.”

+               

The answer to the long-standing question of how long it took the hot water heaters in the dorms to run out turned out to be four hours, give or take.

+               

The answer to whether or not Fitz would ever let Clint take over the room for the night was yes, given a desperate enough Clint and Bucky. 

+               

Riley held out for fifteen minutes while Steve and Sam were in his and Sam’s room at the end of break. It would have only taken ten minutes but he had snarky remarks to make about Sam’s previously non-existent sex life. He and Bucky became instant friends after Steve repeated the remarks, laughing.

+               

Maintenance charged fifty dollars for broken bedframes, but only took twenty-five because apparently Sam could sweet-talk anyone given enough motivation.              

Shelling out money for spackling compound in order to patch the drywall where the bedframe slammed against the wall led to the hardware store owner laughing hysterically when he saw Steve, his best cashier, blushing while his new boyfriend opened his wallet. 

+               

Putting the futon mattress on the ground was cheaper than buying a whole new futon. 

+               

Making Tony lose a hundred dollars to Pepper on the bet if Steve would find his mystery singer was made better by the fact that he’d walked in when they’d forgotten to lock the door on April Fool’s Day. 

+             

It was easy enough to find an apartment with Clint and Bucky for the summer and their senior year once they found a landlord who didn’t care if they felt like paying to soundproof the walls. His only stipulation was not allowing the men to paint with dark colors.            

The landlord was awesome.

+              

The student-run movie theater operated during the summer and saw Steve and Sam on enough dates to give them free passes as long as they tweeted movie reviews to the theater’s feed.

+             

Twenty-eight movie dates, forty-one dinner dates, and almost one hundred miles walked hand-in-hand led to Sam buying a ring in June.

+              

Eight people begging him to wait until graduation in April prevented Steve from buying a ring in August.

+           

Sam gave his oath in front of the student body with the other Air Force ROTC students. Steve spoke in front of the class of 2015 and moved half the class to tears. The other half laughed and cried when Sam interrupted Steve’s walk across the stage with his diploma and proposed in front of two thousand students, their families, and the board of trustees. The president of the university won a thousand dollars from the Dean of Students because of the bold move. 

+               

Sam was honorably discharged with Riley when they were wounded in action. Steve didn’t move from his fiancé’s side once during the hospital stay. Riley lost a leg, but made a career out of triathlons after years of physical therapy. Sam bore scars, mental and physical, but his smile never faltered. Steve loved him more because of it.

+            

They were married under the July sun in Florida, Clint and Bucky watching with their own rings glinting in the light. Pepper and Tony gave the best presents, including a gallery space for Steve and an apartment in the massive new skyscraper they’d built. Riley scowled when his aide dog stole the garter, but laughed when the dog knocked over Natasha, who’d given Steve her bouquet to toss.  The only reason she didn’t punch Riley was because his laughter turned shy when she landed in his arms. Rhodey couldn’t make it with his job in military intelligence, but sent a very expensive bottle of wine from Italy.

+             

The newspapers covered the honeymoon that happened three months after the wedding due to the debut of Steve’s portrait series “War and Peace” that centered on Sam. The series began during their first month together, continued throughout their senior year, included paintings of a Skype call window with Sam in uniform, and drew people in with portraits of Sam on leave. The real draw occurred with paintings of Sam in the hospital, going through physical therapy, and helping other soldiers at the VA. There was a painting at the end of Sam in a suit with a lavender boutonniere and part of a wedding arbor in the background.         

Steve was instantly famous, and they immediately booked a flight to Puerto Rico, cashing in their wedding money for a five-star resort and a month long stay. It paid to have rich friends.            

It paid better to live a rich life with the one you loved.


End file.
